History
An introduction to modern Chinese history spanning from the fall of the Qing Empire to the present. Examines the factors that led to the end of China’s dynastic system, the political and social divisions that emerged after the Qing Dynasty’s collapse, and the various alternative visions for China’s future that have arisen from the late nineteenth century onward. Focuses on aspects of political, economic, and social history.
News headlines and geopolitical debates alike focus on China’s policies towards Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang, and other areas on its periphery. But how did these areas come to be regarded as borderlands in the first place? Why does the government of the People’s Republic of China see these areas as core to its national interests? How does PRC policy continue or break away from the precedents set by the Qing Empire and the Republic of China? This seminar course explores these questions. Throughout the semester, students engage with a variety of primary and secondary sources as they produce a major...
This course delves into Tibet’s modern history, covering the late nineteenth century to the present. It situates Tibet’s history within the emerging ideological and political landscape shaped by the globalizing force of colonial modernity. By examining pivotal moments in twentieth-century Tibetan history, this course discusses the gradual transformation of the Tibetan world as it encountered new ideas, institutions, and practices from the modern West, often mediated through modern China and colonial and post-colonial India. Emphasizing that the present state of Tibet’s future was...
The global movement of people that occurred in the aftermath of the Second World War is often evoked today. It’s used as a benchmark against which the scale and scope of the current global refugee crisis is measured. However, histories of this ‘global’ post-1945 crisis of displaced people have mainly focused on Europe, especially the aftermath of the Holocaust. This was a global war, but historical work on its aftermath for those displaced by fighting, genocidal regimes, and wartime mobilization is far less global in scope. Unlike in Europe after 1945, where, as historian Tony Judt writes, “...
This reading seminar surveys major themes in Chinese history since the late nineteenth century. Through reading both classic and recent research, students familiarize themselves with key debates that have shaped the historical understanding of modern China.
An introduction to the legal systems of the Roman and post-Roman states and Han- and Tang-dynasty China. Emphasis on developing collaborative partnerships that foster comparative history research. Readings in surviving law codes (in the original or English translation) and secondary studies on topics including slavery, trade, crime, and family.
This seminar takes scholars on a journey through the laws and the history of China. We encounter a series of case studies: scholarly analyses of sets of historical materials from different periods and various contexts that illustrate types of law and ways of writing history. Students read and analyze a wide variety of case materials: legal sources, trial accounts, printed records, and archival materials from different times and places in Chinese history to familiarize themselves with a range of texts used to narrate and analyze histories of law. At the same time, students familiarize...
After a general introduction to the broad array of sources and reference materials available for conducting research related to the history of Japan since ca. 1600, students prepare original research papers on topics of their own choosing in a collaborative workshop environment.
This course examines the periodization, parameters, and implications of some of the many ways that China’s path to modernity has been theorizing by reviewing scholarship on what defines and constitutes China’s Early Modern era. From early twentieth-century adaptations of social and historical theories from European languages into Chinese historiographical discussions to post-Mao attempts to trace the “sprouts of capitalism” that might justify China’s socialist revolution as a valid one, from theories of Song dynasty absolutism and Ming autocracy, from the Great Divergence to urban history,...
Exploration of Yale’s rich historical connections to Japan. Focus on use of the University’s museum and library collections to learn about various aspects of the Japanese past, from ancient times to the post-World War II era.
Underlying causes of current issues facing China traced back to their origins in the premodern period. Topics include economic development, corruption, environmental crises, gender, and Pacific island disputes. Selected primary-source readings in English, images, videos, and Web resources.
An introduction to the social history of the Silk Road from 200–1000 CE through close examination of six archaeological sites in China and one in Uzbekistan. Emphasis on excavated documents (as opposed to transmitted documents) and what they reveal about local society, trade relations, and religious change in the first millennium CE.
A survey of Japan’s transformation over the course of the nineteenth century from an isolated, traditional society on the edge of northeast Asia to a modern imperial power. Aspects of political, social, and cultural history.
